Space
- Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstration (RLV-TD) programme
- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully carried out the landing experiment of the Reusable Launch Vehicle -Technology Demonstration (RLV-TD) programme at the Aeronautical Test Range in Challakere, Chitradurga.
About RLV-TD:
- The RLV-TD is a winged space vehicle launched like a rocket and flies back down like a glider.
- It can fly at hypersonic speeds: speeds greater than 5 times the speed of sound (6174 km/hr).
- 600 heat-resistant tiles cover the RLV-TD on its underside, protecting it from the high temperatures encountered while re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.
- It is controlled like an airplane using control surfaces called elevons and rudder.
- The launch stack is made up of the RLV-TD vehicle and the rocket booster called HS9.
- The booster is meant to lift the vehicle into the upper atmosphere and accelerate it to hypersonic test speeds.
RLV – TD Mission programme
- The RLV-TD mission consists of 4 major steps before the development of the final Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV).
- Hypersonic Flight Experiment (HEX) – it was conducted in May 2016.
- Landing Experiment (LEX) – now done
- Return Flight Experiment (REX)
- Scramjet Propulsion Experiment (SPEX)
